Effective educational activities are designed to foster a variety of skills and attitudes in learners. Such tasks should be open-ended, allowing for multiple solutions and encouraging students to build confidence and independence.
Encourages learners to develop confidence and independence
Provide space for individual and collaborative work space
A rich task can have multiple starts and end points
It needs to go beyond what the student already knows
It relates to real issues and has a purpose
It should encourage originality and invention (ex: building their own robot or a scale building of their choice)
The rich task is interdisciplinary (across many subjects)
Students should be able to work through task according to their own strenghts
Teacher must be skillful and provide guidance to individuals or groups that require that extra support (observe and hear what is going on while students are learning) ("Just in time" development of a concept)
Has the ability to engage ALL students
Open ended problem that can have a variety of solutions
Promotes active learning and movement
Rich task should support individual and group goals